Appendix D. Questions Used in On-Site Interviews in August 2008

Questions for Each Department

Which technologies are currently being used by your department?
What overall changes have you noticed in the agency over the last five years due to the implementation of technology?
Please describe the biggest challenges that you have faced in implementing and using technology in your department.
What was the cost of the technology that you are using? Are there any recurring costs associated with the technology your department is using?
What benefits have you perceived from using the technology? Can you describe those benefits in quantitative or monetary terms?
Has there been any change in your department's staff and resources since the technology implementation? Was this change planned?
Please provide a brief summary of your lessons learned from the technology implementation and usage.

Questions for Management

1. Please provide the current status of the following projects:
- Transit Signal Priority
- Real-time information
- Web-based trip planner
- Integration with Translink
What were the most significant challenges faced during the implementation of the ITS technologies?
What changes have you experienced in terms of staff (e.g., turnover, necessary increases, reduction) due to the implementation of each technology?
Please provide information on overall lessons learned from the ITS implementation.
Please provide information on the overall financial savings from the ITS implementation, if any.

Questions for Planning Department

Have you noticed significant time and resource savings after the implementation/update of scheduling software and other planning software (e.g., HASTUS, automatic passenger counter [APC] management software)?
What changes have you noticed in route planning and scheduling due to the implementation of the computer aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location (CAD/AVL) and APC systems?
Do you use archived AVL data to make schedule adjustments (e.g., by performing running time analysis)?
How does APC data help in planning activities? Which reports do you use regularly? Please provide a sample of these reports.
Have there been any changes in ridership in recent years that can be attributed to technology implementation?
Please provide monthly ridership information for the time period 2003 through 2007.
What changes have you noticed in productivity (passengers per vehicle-hour or vehicle-mile)? Which aspects of the CAD/AVL system have helped the most in the changing the productivity in your perception?
Have there been travel time savings due to the implementation of the CAD/AVL system? Do you have any quantitative figures on the travel time savings since the implementation of the CAD/AVL system?
Have there been impacts to performing comprehensive operational analyses (COA) studies in terms of the following since 2003?
- Has the time needed to complete COA studies changed?
- Has the cost of COA studies changed?
- Have there been any changes to implementing route/service modifications (as a result of COA studies)? and
- Have there been changes to the costs to operate the modified routes/services?
Have there been any changes to the amount of time it takes to generate annual National Transit Database (NTD) reports due to the technology implementation?
What are the annual boardings per hour for each year during the period from 2003 through 2007?
Please share your experiences with any other changes that have taken place in the process of conducting COA studies, as well as performing other planning activities.

Questions for Operations Department

Please provide current information for the following items:
- Number of drivers
- Number of road supervisors
- Number of dispatchers
- Number of revenue and non-revenue vehicles
Have there been any changes in recent years to these numbers which can be attributed to technology implementation?
Which functions of the CAD/AVL system have helped you the most in managing daily operations?
Do road supervisors have access to the CAD/AVL system when in the field?
What changes have you noticed in the efficiency of communication between dispatch and road supervisors since the CAD/AVL implementation?
Have there been significant changes in the volume of voice radio traffic over the last five years? Do you think that the CAD/AVL system has contributed to reducing the number and length of calls among dispatchers, drivers and road supervisors?
Have there been any changes in dispatcher's response time to incidents and accidents? Has emergency communication improved with the use of silent alarm monitoring (if that is part of the CAD/AVL system)?
What changes have you seen in recording/reporting incidents and accidents over the last five years? Are the changes attributable to the CAD/AVL system or other technology?
Has the on-board surveillance system helped in improving operations? What are the significant impacts of this technology (e.g., resolving accident/ passenger disputes regarding on-time arrival of a vehicle)? Please provide anecdotal information, if possible.
Please provide the following annual statistics for each year of the period 2003 through 2007:
- Total non-revenue vehicle hours;
- Total non-revenue vehicle miles;
- Total revenue vehicle hours; and
- Total revenue vehicle miles.
Do you think that the technology has helped improve the reliability of MST transit services? Is there any documentation available on service reliability both before and after the implementation of the CAD/AVL system?
Does on-time performance vary significantly 1) seasonally; 2) over a week; or 3) during the day?
Please describe how the following functions have changed over the last five years since the implementation of technology:
- On-time performance management;
- Daily recording and reporting procedures;
- Answering customer queries in the field;
- Performing required next-stop announcements; and
- Performing passenger counts (ride checks).

Questions For Maintenance Department

Is the inventory management system linked to the financial management system? How much has the new CAD/AVL system changed your job functions?
Please describe a typical vehicle maintenance procedure in terms of the process you use to initiate a maintenance action and to record all of the activities performed as part of that maintenance activity. Does technology play a role at any point during a maintenance action?
Does technology help you manage your time and resources? What technology has helped you the most in managing your time and resources?
What is your experience with the remote diagnostics system in terms of the following:
Your general perceptions associated with using remote diagnostics and the accuracy of the remote diagnostics system;
The total number of alarms/messages that are generated by the system during the course of an average day;
The alarms that you monitor;
The number of false remote diagnostic messages that are generated during the course of an average day;
The process associated with handling false messages/alarms; and
Cost savings since the remote diagnostics system was implemented, if any.
Please provide us anecdotal information on how the remote diagnostics system has helped vehicle maintenance activities since the system was implemented. What are the most significant issues with the remote diagnostics system, and how would you suggest the system be improved?

Questions for Safety and Security Department

Please provide the annual number and types of incidents (on-board and transit center) before and after the implementation of the surveillance system.
Please provide anecdotal information on investigations of reported incidents using archived videos since the implementation of the surveillance system.
If possible, please provide the following information annually for the period 2003-2007:
- Annual number of on-board incidents
- Annual number of on-board incidents where the perpetrator was identified
- Annual number of transit center incidents
- Annual number of transit center incidents where the perpetrator was identified
- Annual number of registered cases of theft
- Annual number of registered cases of theft where the trespasser was identified
- Annual trend of customer complaints related to safety and security

Questions for Customer Service Department

What changes have been made to customer service hours/shifts, if any over the last five years?
How long, on average, does it take currently to find an answer to a customer query compared to the time it took before the implementation of technology? Has the process used to answer customer questions changed due to the use of technology?
Please describe the following with respect to technology implementation:
- The change in the number of customer calls;
- Changes in nature of calls; and
- The change in the number of complaints.
Have you received any customer feedback on technology (e.g., automated next-stop announcements, on-board and transit center surveillance)?
Have you conducted any surveys since the technology implementation to determine customer satisfaction with the "customer-facing" technologies? If yes, please provide the survey findings.

Questions for Finance Department

Please provide the annual statistics for the following for each year from 2003 through 2007:
- Number of passengers;
- Total platform hours (time spent by vehicle in service between pull-in and pull-out);
- Total vehicle miles;
- Total annual revenue;
- Passenger-miles per employee;
- Passenger-miles per revenue dollar;
- Total cost of operations and maintenance; and
- Cost per passenger-mile;
Please provide information on the changes in the volume and dollar amount of financial claims over the last five years due the availability of data from ITS technologies (e.g., video clips and images, and on-time performance data).

Questions for Information Technology Department

Please describe how various ITS systems are integrated (e.g., CAD/AVL and scheduling). If possible, please provide a system diagram that shows how systems are integrated. If possible, please identify (on a system diagram) the data flows among the various ITS systems.
What changes have taken place in terms of daily reporting (e.g., number and nature of reports) before and after the technology implementation? Please describe the benefits of reporting in terms of the following:
- The number of reports by category;
- Ad-hoc reporting capability;
- System capability to report in various formats (e.g., graphically, map-based and tabular);
- The resources needed to generate reports; and
- The operational benefits perceived by other MST departments.
Do you manage ITS hardware, software and data in-house? If any items are outsourced, which functions were outsourced and why?
Which technology has helped the most in improving overall operational efficiency and productivity?
How long did it take to "stabilize" each of the ITS subsystems? Please provide anecdotal information on the challenges and problems that were encountered with each system/subsystem during and after the implementation.
Have you faced any challenges in training the staff on technology usage?

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